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Lupita Nyongó is arguably the all time most successful Kenyan actress in the film industry.
Even though she prefers a very quite life, the type of her career does not give her a lot of privacy space.
Let’s take a look at some of the less known facts about Lupita Nyongó
- She was born 36 years ago as Lupita Amondi Nyong’o on March 1, 1983 in Mexico City.
- Lupita was born to Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o , Kisumu County Governor and Kisumu County First Lady Dorothy Ogada Buyu . Then Prof. Nyongó was a political exile in Mexico working as a teacher.
- A little Lupita moved back to Nairobi, Kenya at the age only one where she began her early education, Lupita would later move to USA where she earned her bachelor’s degree in film and theater studies from Hampshire College. Before that, Lupita was at St. Mary’s School in Nairobi, where she received an IB Diploma in 2001.
- She started off her acting career as a production assistant in Hollywood and made her debut in East River, a short film. Between 2009–2012 she came back to Kenya where she featured as a key actress in the TV series Shuga. Within the same period, she also produced and directed the documentary In My Genes
- In 2013, she received a major call up to play as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave. Lupita had just graduated with a master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama
- Among other several awards she won, she made record when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She wrote history by becoming the the first Kenyan and Mexican actress to win an Academy Award
- In 2018, her career blossomed when she featured as Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Black Panther
- Lupita has continued to inspire many black girls with her sense of African fashion and black melanin. In 2014, American beauty magazine People named Lupita as the most beautiful woman alive at that time.
- Away from acting, Lupita has had a vocal support towards women rights against sexual harassment as well as supporting animal rights
- Lupita enjoys dual citizenship, Kenyan and Mexican. She was born in a family of six siblings. At the age of 16 years old, she was sent back to Mexico to learn Spanish.
10 Best Hollywood Movies Featuring Lupita Nyongó
- East River– 2008
- 12 Years a Slave – 2013 as Patsey
- Non-Stop – 2014 as Gwen Lloyd
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 2014 as Maz Kanata
- Eclipsed -2015
- Star Wars sequel trilogy -2015–2019
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi – 2017 as Maz Kanata
- Black Panther -2018 as Nakia
- US- 2019 as Adelaide Wilson / Red
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker -2019 as Maz Kanata
List of 15 major awards received by Lupita Nyong’o
- 2013- Herself – Personality of the Year (MTV Africa Music Awards)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – Best Supporting Actress (Academy Awards)
- 2014- 12 years as a slave – Best Breakthrough Performance (Black Reel Awards)
- 2014- 12 years as a slave – Outstanding Supporting Actress (Black Reel Awards)
- 2014- 12 years as a slave – Best Actress (BET Awards)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – Best Supporting Actress (Critics’ Choice Movie Awards)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – New Hollywood Award (Hollywood Film Awards)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (NAACP Image Awards)
- 2016- Eclipsed – Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Ensemble (Obie Awards)
- 2019- Black Panther – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (NAACP Image Awards)
- 2019- Black Panther – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (Screen Actors Guild Awards)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Screen Actors Guild Awards)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – Favourite Female African Rising Screen Talent (Screen Nation Film and Television Awards)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – Best Breakout Performance (Critic Associations)
- 2014 – 12 years as a slave – Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Critic Associations)